Qibla direction in Paniqui

How to face the Qibla in Paniqui

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 18.7° towards north: the result is the bearing of 288.7°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 19° off.

Scholars agree that someone who can see the Kaaba must face it exactly, while someone far away faces its direction (jihat al-Ka‘bah) as precisely as reasonably possible. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. At home, mark the direction once with tape or a small arrow so the whole family prays the same way.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Paniqui to Mecca points to 274.3° (west), 14.4° away from the correct 288.7°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 87 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 15.6689° N, 120.5806° E to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). It is the method used by mosque architects and by every serious Qibla calculator, and it gives one exact answer for each point on Earth.

Distance from Paniqui to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 8,446 km from Paniqui as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 8,402 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 10 h 26 min, although most pilgrims from Paniqui connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Paniqui run 5 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Paniqui rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Paniqui

On 98 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Paniqui while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in July (31 days); for example, on 15 May 2027 it happens at 12:37 local time.

On 180 days the sun stands exactly opposite the Qibla: then the shadow of any vertical object, a pole, a door frame or a plumb line, points straight towards Mecca. This is most frequent in March (31 days), for instance on 15 February 2027 at 07:36.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Paniqui: at 17:18 and 17:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Paniqui compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Manila (289.0°), and Mecca is 79 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Bayambang (21 km), prays towards 288.7°, a difference of 0.1°.

Across the 80 cities in the Philippines on this site, the Qibla ranges from 288.1° in Laoag to 290.9° in General Santos, a spread of 2.8°. The difference is small, yet each city should still use its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Philippines.

Qibla in cities near Paniqui

• Bayambang288.7° · 21 km
• Tarlac City288.8° · 21 km
• Urdaneta288.6° · 34 km
• Concepcion288.8° · 39 km
• Cabanatuan City288.8° · 46 km
• Dagupan288.6° · 49 km